Authorities continue to ride roughshod over press freedom

A journalist has been the victim of an orchestrated smear campaign in the government press and a French news weekly has been banned, yet the United States hails supposed measures in favour of press freedom in Tunisia and France talks of its effective respect for human rights and basic freedoms, Reporters Without Borders said today. "Once again we must point out that journalists cannot express themselves freely in Tunisia and we call on the international community not to endorse President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's government on the grounds that it helps ensure regional stability and combat terrorism," the press freedom organisation said. "Establishing democracy and respect for basic values such as press freedom is the only way to achieve lasting stability in the Maghreb," Reporters Without Borders added. The target of the smear campaign was Sihem Bensedrine, a human rights activist and editor of the online magazine Kalima. Several pro-government newspapers including Al-Chourouk, Al-Hadith and As-Sarih published articles on 8 and 11 May accusing her of selling her conscience and "renting her back" (in Tunisia, a coded way of saying she practises prostitution by permitting anal penetration). The articles also variously called her "crazy", "hysterical", "hateful", and a "diabolical creation". President Ben Ali often voices his "immense pride in the leading position which women occupy in society and the rights they enjoy." Yet on national culture day, he awarded the national order of cultural merit to Al-Chourouk editor Abdelhamid Riahi, who headlined his article on Bensedrine, "When the viper reappears, we will crush her under our feet." The magazine that was banned from sale in Tunisia was the 22-28 May issue of Jeune Afrique-l'Intelligent, which contained a report about the arrest of several lawyers in Tunisia. Other recent press freedom violations include the three and a half-year prison sentence imposed on Mohammed Abbou on 1 March for supposedly assaulting a colleague and publishing an article on the Tunisnews website in August 2004 comparing torture committed against political prisoners in Tunisia to abuses carried out by US soldiers in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Many observers at the trial believed the real reason for his conviction was another article, published a few days before his arrest, in which he criticised Tunisia's invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to attend the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in November and alluded ironically to corruption in the president's family.